50,000 deaths attributed to malaria every year in Pakistan

Rawalpindi: Malaria that is a preventable and curable infection but claims life of a child every two minutes around the globe is back on track and in Pakistan, according to estimates nearly 50,000 deaths can be attributed to malaria and co-morbidities every year but still its prevention, diagnosis and treatment along with recording of data are not being given due attention both at the federal and the provincial levels.

Malaria that causes deaths mostly in infants, children and pregnant women every year is the second most prevalent and devastating disease of the country as approximately 60 per cent of the population is living in areas where the disease is endemic.

World Malaria Day is observed on April 25 around the globe every year and the theme for World Malaria Day 2018 is ‘Ready to beat malaria’. According to WHO, urgent action is required to get the global fight against malaria back on track.

Studies reveal that development of irrigation network coupled with population growth and haphazard urbanization together with deteriorating sanitary conditions and environmental hazards like heavy rains, floods etc has increased the malariogenic potential of the country in both urban and rural areas.

The efforts to roll back malaria from Pakistan have not been in limelight for over a decade particularly after appearance of dengue fever outbreaks in the country. The teams of district health departments have been carrying out activities in the field to fight malaria and the activities are almost the same needed to avoid dengue fever outbreaks particularly regarding vector control and mosquitoes’ elimination but the efforts are now referred to as dengue control measures, said Chief Executive Officer Health Dr. Sohail Ahmed while talking to ‘The News’ on Wednesday in connection with World Malaria Day.

He added the healthcare facilities including basic health units and rural health centres do work on diagnosis and registration of malaria cases. Data collected by ‘The News’ however has revealed that the tertiary care hospitals including teaching hospitals in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi do not have compact data regarding number of malaria cases being presented there.

The three allied hospitals in town including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital receive well over 1.5 million patients every year at their outpatients departments but cases with malaria and its complications are not registered in them, a fact that has already been admitted by Rawalpindi Medical University.

Dr. Sohail said for early diagnosis of malaria, microscopic examination of blood slides are performed at primary and secondary healthcare facilities though, he accepted that there may be many cases which are treated on signs and symptoms only.

It is important to mention here that major vector species in Pakistan are Anopheles culcifacies (rural area vector) and Anopheles stephensi (urban area vector) and prevalent causative parasites are Plasmodium vivax (75% malaria cases) and Plasmodium falciparum (25% cases) which is the most deadly. There is significant rise in more lethal form that is falciparum in Balochistan and Sindh. According to WHO, Plasmodium falciparum is the most prevalent malaria parasite on the African continent and is responsible for most malaria-related deaths globally.